Saturday, August 5, 2017

Francis Dayle "Chick" Hearn (November 27, 1916 – August 5, 2002) was an American sportscaster. Known primarily as the long-time play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association.

Hearn was remembered for his rapid fire, staccato broadcasting style, associated with colorful phrases such as slam dunk, air ball, and no harm, no foul that have become common basketball vernacular, and for broadcasting 3,338 consecutive Lakers games starting on November 21, 1965. Additionally, Hearn started the now common tradition of estimating the distance of shots taken. Of note is that most of Hearn's games in the television era were simulcast on both radio and television, even after most teams chose to use different announcers for the different media.

DeathDuring the summer of 2002, Hearn suffered a fall at his Encino, California home, and struck his head causing serious injury. Three days later, on August 5, 2002, Chick Hearn died of his injury. He was 85.

He was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California next to his son Gary, who had died of a drug overdose on June 1, 1972, and his daughter Samantha, who had died from complications of anorexia on May 24, 1990. Chick and Marge would have celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary on August 13, 2002.